Editor’s note: In honor of the University’s 225th anniversary, we will be sharing profiles throughout the academic year of some of the many Tar Heels who have left their heelprint on the campus, their communities, the state, the nation and the world.

Carolina alumni go on to do remarkable things, including holding the nation’s highest elected office. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1818, James K. Polk became the 11th president of the United States, securing victory in a close race with Henry Clay.

Polk was Tar Heel born and bred, a native of North Carolina’s Mecklenburg County. Carolina’s students, faculty, staff and visitors who cross campus today will encounter Polk Place, the quad named after the only Carolina alumnus to serve as U.S. president.

A young Polk graduated from Carolina with honors and delivered a commencement speech in Latin as valedictorian of his class. Since there were only 14 students in the Class of 1818, that may not seem much of a distinction. But consider that among his classmates were the future governor of Florida, bishop of Mississippi and paymaster general of the U.S. Army.

In 2016, a group of North Carolina researchers published evidence of high rates of PFAS in the Cape Fear River basin. While this unregulated family of chemicals is used in the production of everyday goods, its impact on human health is largely unknown. For the past year, scientists from UNC-Chapel Hill, five other UNC system universities, and Duke University, have researched these potentially dangerous chemicals found in drinking water sources across the state.

UNC-Chapel Hill undergraduate students who will have completed 45 or more credit hours by December 2019 and are in good academic standing are eligible to apply to the UNC School of Media and Journalism's MEJO major through for Spring 2020 enrollment.

Most famously adapted by Carolina’s own Paul Green, Richard Wright’s seminal novel of the African-American psyche is ready to capture the hearts and minds of another generation with Nambi E. Kelley’s heart-stopping and theatrical new adaptation.

Most famously adapted by Carolina’s own Paul Green, Richard Wright’s seminal novel of the African-American psyche is ready to capture the hearts and minds of another generation with Nambi E. Kelley’s heart-stopping and theatrical new adaptation.